The 10 Metropolitan Areas With The Greatest Job Growth

Besides sandy beaches, beautiful weather, and the Florida sun, Cape Coral has more to offer — according to statistics gathered by the labor-market data company Emsi, the Cape Coral-Fort Myers metropolitan statistical area has seen a 25.7% increase in jobs over the past five years, putting it at number one among all 150 metropolitan areas that Emsi surveyed across the country to compile its most recent data set.

Compared with the situation in 2011, the broad industries of retail trade, accommodation and food services, and construction in Cape Coral today have added the greatest number of jobs. Emsi’s data also uses a unique location quotient that measures how concentrated a certain industry is in the region (this is done by comparing the share of jobs this industry holds regionally with its share of jobs nationally). The metric shows that the arts, entertainment, and recreation industry and the construction industry are more than double the national average in Cape Coral.

A few specific industries to watch for both job growth and location quotient in Cape Coral are support activities for crop production (110% increase in jobs since 2011), residential building construction (94% increase), landscaping services (32%), continuing care retirement communities and assisted living facilities for the elderly (29%), golf courses and country clubs (23%), and hospitals (22% with a concentration that is almost ten times the national average).

“Many of the top [metropolitan statistical areas] have tech-based economies,” Emsi’s Director of Marketing & Communications Joshua Wright told Forbes, adding that healthcare is another emerging field in several regions.

Wright also noted that Florida is one of the fastest-growing states for jobs in recent years, so it is not surprising to see a number of Florida metros in the top ten.

Behind Cape Coral at number two is last year’s winner, Provo-Orem, UT. Key industries and fields in this region that potential job-seekers should consider are electrical contractors and other wiring installation contractors (142% job growth since 2011), residential building construction (118%), software publishers (82%), computer systems design and related services (66%), and colleges, universities, and professional schools (7% growth with a concentration that is seven times the national average).

Provo is followed closely by Austin-Round Rock, TX at number three. Like Provo, tech is a growing field in this Texas metro. It has also witnessed tremendous growth in consulting and administrative services. In fact, data processing, hosting, and related services (136% increase in jobs since 2011), computer systems design and related services (112%), management consulting services (91%), office administrative services (64%), and computer and peripheral equipment manufacturing (53% growth with a concentration that is more than ten times the national average) are among the hottest industries to enter.

On the other end of the spectrum are the metropolitan areas with the least job growth over the past five years — many have zero or even negative rates. According to Emsi’s data (decimals are rounded to the nearest tenth), the ten metros with the lowest rates are:

#150: Shreveport-Bossier City, LA (-4.6%)

#149: Lafayette, LA (-2.5%)

#148: Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH (-1.9%)

#147: Peoria, IL (-1.5%),

#146: Fayetteville, NC (-1.1%)

#145: Gulfport-Biloxi-Pascagoula, MS (-0.1%)

#144: Scranton/Wilkes-Barre/Hazleton, PA (0.3%)

#143: Youngstown-Warren-Boardman, OH-PA (0.3%)

#142: Syracuse, NY (0.6%)

#141: Davenport-Moline-Rock Island, IA-IL (0.7%)

Wright said many of these metros lie along the rust belt or have had a difficult time recovering from the 2008 economic recession. Some areas in West Virginia and Kentucky have also witnessed significant population declines. Others have economies that depend on only a few industries, such as oil and gas and manufacturing, and have not been able to diversify and achieve economic growth.

Still, Wright said looking at job growth rates is only one way of assessing the conditions of U.S. labor markets. Measuring wages and unemployment, for example, are other methods that can be used to appraise the circumstances.

See our gallery above for the top ten metropolitan areas with the highest job growth rates, including the key industries to note in each metro. The complete labor market data compiled by Emsi can be accessed here.

I am an editorial intern at Forbes this summer covering leadership in business, education, and other fields. My main focus is on the American workplace and its game changers, though I also seek to provide an international perspective in my work. I am a rising junior at Yale ...